How to downgrade an iPhone or iPad from iOS 7 to iOS 6: Is it possible to reinstall iOS 6?

Want to delete iOS 7 from your iPhone or iPad and reinstall iOS 6? Sadly it's very difficult - but not impossible to downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6.

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iOS 7 has been quickly adopted by iPhone and iPad owners; after a month it was on three-quarters of active iPhones. But not everyone is happy, with some complaining about the new look, the effect on older iPhones' performance, and various changes to the user experience. In this article we discuss methods to downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6 - but be warned that they're exceptionally difficult to pull off. Updated 11 March 2014 to cover iOS 7.1.

Before we get on to the downgrade methods, however, a word of warning. The original method of downgrading from iOS 7 to iOS 6 on your iPhone or iPad (listed at the bottom of this article for the benefit of future downgraders) doesn't currently work, and the only method that's left is extremely hard to do, and only works in a small number of cases. It may therefore be worth considering sticking with iOS 7 - we certainly recommend this (see Hate iOS 7? Give it a month, 7 things we love about iOS 7, and 5 reasons to upgrade to iOS 7). Besides, we may be able to help with whatever is annoying you about the iOS 7 software.

For one thing, iOS 7.1 is out now, and this is supposed to fix some of the issues with the original iOS 7. You can read about all the new features of iOS 7.1 elsewhere, but most relevant for iPhone 4 owners (and some iPhone 4s owners) who have experienced slower performance since upgrading is the claim by Apple that iOS 7.1 improves this state of affairs.

iOS 7.1 also tweaks the design, which may be good news for some. The green of the FaceTime, Messages and Phone icons are less yellow, for instance - not quite so 'toxic chemical spill'.

How to downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6: the new, extremely difficult method

This method, as discovered and explained by Simon Hill on DigitalTrends, is incredibly specific in terms of the hardware and software it works with. Brace yourself, because this gets nasty. To downgrade to iOS 6, you'll need:

Don't worry about the SHSH blobs just yet - we'll explain what that means shortly. First of all, are you downgrading on an iPhone 4, and do you use a Windows PC? (If the answer to the latter is yes, perhaps you're one of the many PC users who happen across Macworld via search engines. In which case, welcome! And have you considered switching to a Mac?) If the answer to either is no, then this method isn't for you, unfortunately.

If you are using a Windows computer and an iPhone 4, then we can press on. Is your version of iTunes 11.0.5 or earlier? If you've updated to a more recent version (I'm on 11.1.1), you can still use this method, provided you uninstall iTunes entirely and redownload iTunes 11.0.5 from the web (although not from Apple's site). DigitalTrends suggests Old Apps, but you may be able to find other sources with a quick search.

Finally, what's an SHSH blob, and have you saved one? It's a cryptographic key - a small bit of saved data - that Apple uses to control the version of iOS you can install on your iPhone or other iOS device. Each one is uniquely generated for a specific device, so you can't use someone else's. Jailbreakers commonly save these blobs locally so that in future they can trick iTunes into restoring their devices to an earlier version of iOS. Here's how to save your SHSH blobs.

(If you don't know where your SHSH blob is, you can try to find it using the jailbreaking tool iFaith. Start iFaith up, select OK, and choose 'Show Available SHSH Caches on Server', then Yes. Now pick 'Show list of available SHSH blobs on TSS server(s)', and pick a blob to download.)

Hold Shift and click ‘Restore iPhone’ under Summary. Find the IPSW file and select it

Follow remaining instructions

Head over to DigitalTrends for a fuller explanation of how this method works. And we'd probably recommend the technique for experience techies only.

How to downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6: the old, easy method [that no longer works]

[Edit, 17 Jan 2014: this method no longer works, as Apple has stopped signing pre-iOS 7 operating systems for installation. We're going to keep it here since it may work on future versions of iOS - users may well wish to downgrade from iOS 8 to iOS 7 - but everything in italics currently doesn't work.]

According to our poll, 64% of Macworld readers think that iOS 7 is great. However, there are some people who are not so keen. Like many Apple mobile users, I pressed the big Upgrade button on Wednesday night this week to install Apple iOS 7. By the following evening, I’d had enough and was desperately seeking a way to turn back the clock and return to iOS 6. Here’s how to downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6.

To downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6 is actually ridiculously easy - under certain conditions at least. But why would you want to turn your back on all that translucent bright and shininess? In my case, and in two words, iPad 3.

Otherwise known by its formal title of Apple iPad with Retina display, the first Retina-class iPad was launched by Apple in March 2012, and based on my experience at least it does not run iOS at all well.

It runs, yes, but with a sticky interface punctuated by cheap Android-like judders and stutters instead of the usual Apple oil-on-glass slickness. I realise my expectations are ridiculously high – you may have an iPad 3 with iOS 7 and be entirely happy with it. I did, and I was not.

In fact, it’s made me realise that the graphics engine in the third-generation iPad is only just quick enough to run the highly optimised iOS 6 with sufficient speed that you barely see any micro-second hesitations.

I’ve seen iOS 7 running on the current iPad 4th-generation model, and there’s little complaint about its performance. So it seems there’s a very good reason Apple was keen to introduce the iPad 4 model with its faster Apple A6X chip and PowerVR SGX 554MP4 graphics processing unit, just six months after the iPad 3.

Where the iPad 3 is just fast enough to run Retina graphics, the iPad 4 has power to spare, and certainly sufficient to give iOS 7 its required swish.

Can I remove iOS 7 and install iOS 6?

[Just to repeat that this method no longer works, as Apple has stopped signing pre-iOS 7 operating systems for installation. We're going to keep it here since it may work on future versions of iOS - users may well wish to downgrade from iOS 8 to iOS 7 - but everything in italics currently doesn't work.]

In certain cases, yes you can officially remove iOS 7 and install iOS 6. For this relatively simple tast, you will need an iPhone or iPad that Apple will still authorise installing older iOS software. You also need a Mac or Windows PC with iTunes software, and the necessary Lightning or 30-pin cable for your device.

With credit to 9to5mac.com, I found JustaPenguin, a site that lists all Apple devices that run iOS software and importantly, their Apple Signing Status.

Contrary to what I and many have been led to believe, Apple does allow limited backgrades for some of its mobile hardware; typically to the latest version of the previous integer release.

In my case, I wanted to prepare a clean install without restoring old files and apps, preferring to do a manual rebuild of the iPad to the way I wanted it again. But you should also be able to restore your files and settings using previous setup. Just don’t forget to make a full backup in iTunes of your device first.

You can download the required .ipsw (iPhone/Pad/Pod software) file from JustaPenguin, or from numerous other sites.

Do take advantage of the security hashes though – it’s within the realms of possibility that taking an operating system file from a party other than Apple may not be secure, and the firmware may have been tampered with to introduct malware or backdoors. With the help of a MD5 or SHA1 security hash, you can check if a file has been tampered.

How to check integrity of iOS firmware

In Apple OS X, use the Terminal.app to verify that the file you’ve downloaded has not been corrupted by accident or design.

One such way is with SHA1 hash file. After you’ve downloaded the correct .ipsw file, run the following command:

/usr/bin/openssl sha1 path/to/file

You can type or paste just the ‘/usr/bin/openssl sha1’ part of the command, then drag-and-drop your .ipsw file to the Terminal window to complete the path to the file itself.

Compare the alphanumeric string you see with that published on trusted sites. I looked at a few sources in the hope that consensus would provide some integrity – for example The iPhoneWiki as well as my source download site of Icj.

How to install iOS 6 on an iOS 7 device

[Just to repeat that this method no longer works, as Apple has stopped signing pre-iOS 7 operating systems for installation. We're going to keep it here since it may work on future versions of iOS - users may well wish to downgrade from iOS 8 to iOS 7, if history is any guide - but everything in italics currently doesn't work.]

Satisified that you have an unadulterated genuine Apple firmware file, the rest is easy.

Plug your iPhone or iPad into your computer by its USB cable. Launch iTunes. Click on the device icon in top-right corner of iTunes.app window.

Hold down Option or Alt key, and click on the button labelled Restore iPhone...

An open file dialog window appears. Navigate to your downloaded .ipsw file, for example in the Downloads folder, and click Open.

Then let iTunes do the rest. You should have an iPad or iPhone restored to iOS 6 after a few tens of minutes.

(If you have Find my iPad or Find my iPhone activated, you will be asked to deactive this first.)

That’s it – after the install process you should have your iPhone or iPad back to its iOS version 6 shape.

Comments

Isaac Fox said: Comments,Isaac Fox,why i want to downgrade, the ios 8 is not functioning properly on my ipad 2. it is causing my machine to lag. This sucks. Looks like my device is destined for the scrap heap sooner rather than later.

lavarack2 said: Comments,lavarack2,If you want ios 6 so bad then do the panGu jailbreak and install cydia software to make it more like ios 6. By the way, i dont get the SHSH blobs.

Martinovic said: Comments,Martinovic,Totally agree with you. and they should also let users go back with ipad mini.

alejay said: Comments,alejay,we pay a lot of money for their amazing devices , wich are good until the next phone comes out and then they shove us their "updates" to slow our devices down and force us to buy the new phone ! as a courtesy they should allow at least users with iphone 4 and 4s to downgrade to ios 6.1.3 because ios 7 works very bad and slows the device down ,i don't even want to get to ios 8 because that would make the phone useless and make you wanna break the phone ! shame on apple

Martinovic said: Comments,Martinovic,Believe me I am in the same boat, I used to LOVE my iPad mini, and than ios 7 came......

Dodgy Jammer said: Comments,Dodgy Jammer,iOS 7 destroyed one of my iPads (WiFi no longer works reliably) and slowed the other to a crawl. Is anyone else in the same boat? Can we sue Apple?

Trotter said: Comments,Trotter,Help! Just want my iPad back, os8 dreadful dreadful, I would like to reinstall os to anything apart from 8 , never wish to own another I pad, Help

Martinovic said: Comments,Martinovic,I'm sorry not to be rude but if you think this won't work on ipad than why does it say at the beggining ipad in:How to downgrade an iPhone or iPad from iOS 7 to iOS 6: Is it possible to reinstall iOS 6?and:Want to delete iOS 7 from your iPhone or iPad and reinstall iOS 6? Sadly it's very difficult - but not impossible to downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6.

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,If another computer expert says you can, then I'd suggest asking them how it's done! I don't know of any method to downgrade an iPad mini from iOS 7 to iOS 6.

Martinovic said: Comments,Martinovic,So, I have no use on this article for my ipad? But what if another computer expert says you can do this?

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,Wow. Sorry you're so upset about the situation Martinovic! We can't provide any further help because the information in this article is all we've got. You might like iOS 8 when it arrives, so we'd recommend trying that, but if it's the design you're most unhappy with then I'm afraid we can't help. We hope you feel better about your iPad mini soon.

Martinovic said: Comments,Martinovic,I don't know why nobody has replied to my question, will this method will work on Ipad mini, but I have something to tell. right now I am so extremely mad, sad and so damn dissapointed I can't even explain it in words. I have found a company that not only sells but also does things with computers, ipads, iphones and maybe ipods. I was hoping that that might downgrade it for me. a few days ago I contacted someone of that company and I asked about downgrading back to ios 6, showed them this website if they can do this method. that contact person said he could do it for us and that we will meet on friday (today). and man I was very much looking forward to it, happy that I will finaly get back to my sweet ios 6, away from the ugly ios 7, and that my problams are finaly over. well today I went to the company, talked to the main worker there who knows very good about that stuff (not the contact person) and what do you know? they can't do it! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! he said downgrading to ios 6 is in general possible but that it's extremely hard. and that they won't do it because first of all it's probably too hard even for them and second of all, well actually they could do this method of this website but they don't know if this is even reliable, or that it will bring a virus, or that it will completely destroy your ipad. wow I was so mad........... I also asked about the stupid man who I contacted a few days earlier and I said that that man said that it could be done by them, and I gave the worker his name. and than I walked out of there, nearly cried. you know I paid for my own device command I get what I want, that's it, there's nothing else! end of story! when people get something they kind of deserve for what they paid alot of money for it. but no everything has got to be a rip off, violating someone's rights. I know I updated ios 7 myself but if I don't like it because it's ugly and has bad affect on my ipad than that doesn't mean I can't go back. now THATS, the first step of apple's cruelty. '' okay thanks for the 600 dollars but you are not going to decide what happens to your device because we are '' ............. they haven't even told me about this when I bought my ipad. the update and not going back. well, I have decided now that I will leave my ipad in the attic, I will only check it for email's, nothing else. and that since this website is my only hope, al go find a computer expert or another company if they can do this for me. if not, it's simple.......... I am done with my ipad. I will leave it in the attic and put all my data like my pictures, photo's and emial on my computer. and see who else I can sell my Ipad to. I don't why apple has to make this so complicated, there are even alot of people bought a new device with the older ios on it. be bought something and it has to end so badley because of apple. am sorry for my frustration and all but you know what, I don't care if I am in the minority or not, we all are customers and have OUR rights.

Aryan said: Comments,Aryan,But ios 8 gonna be more worse than ios 7...I have even seen the beta and the pics of ios 8 and the release date is September 9 2014

Aryan said: Comments,Aryan,Is that for ipad 2

Aryan said: Comments,Aryan,I have an ipad 2 with ios 7 is there any way to downgrade to ios 5 or 6...plz I need an positive answer

Martinovic said: Comments,Martinovic,But let me get this straight, this method doesn't work on the ipad mini so far? are you still looking for a way for ipad mini?

Martinovic said: Comments,Martinovic,Hi there, I got an ipad mini last summer from my grandparents in Canada and took it with me to Holland because that is where I live. I think somewhere around September or October I had to update to ios 7 and man do I hate it. I am so desperate to go back to ios 6. I am just wondering if this will still work because I see that some people here tried it and that nothing happened. I also fear that if I try this and it doesn't work my ipad will get damaged or that if did succeed some of my data will be gone. so to be honest I am REALLY begging for your help.

singleservingfriendx said: Comments,singleservingfriendx,I used to be able to straight type an IP into safari to stream audio from any server, now it's disabled, WTF!

leart said: Comments,leart,Sure but do this before updating. Download ifaith and dump shsh blobs , just follow the instructions on the screen. Once you have the devices shsh blobs you can update on ios 7. Later you can turn back to ifaith create a custom firmware with your saved previously ios 5 blobs, put the device in pwned dfu mode in ifaith and shift+restore in iTunes 11.0.5. I have done this thing many times, if you have some trouble with a little google can solve any possible trouble. Good luck

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,You can upgrade to iTunes 11.1, try out iOS 7, then uninstall iTunes and re-install an earlier version using the link above or searching for another source.But I really would recommend that you try out iOS 7 on someone else's device (perhaps on an equivalent device in the Apple Store? Make sure it's the same model of iPhone) rather than upgrading to see what it's like. Downgrading is now really difficult, as I hope we illustrate above.

Lalala said: Comments,Lalala,Can you help please? I don't want to risk going to ios7 and not being able to turn back.

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,Don't know, can you give us any more details?

Lalala said: Comments,Lalala,If iOS 7 is only compatible with iTunes 11.1 then how can we download iTunes 11.0.5?

Demon said: Comments,Demon,Nice! I agree that.

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,Hmmm. You could save your SHSH blobs in iOS 5 (try a tool such as Tiny Umbrella - download links down the righthand side of this page - http://blog.firmwareumbrella.c..., which would mean that iTunes would at least be able to verify whichever version of iOS 5 was the most recent for your model of iPhone. In theory that ought to work, but I don't know if you'd be able to make a jump as far back as that, a full two versions of iOS.Going back to an iTunes/iCloud backup won't restore your OS, I'm afraid, although you should be backing up regularly anyway, especially if you're going to be tinkering with the OS.By the way, if you hadn't heard (perhaps this is why you're reluctant to upgrade?) iOS 7 is quite slow on an iPhone 4 - if you're going to try this, make sure you try iOS 7.1 or later, so you've got the speed improvements they made on later versions. Still, expect it to be slower than with iOS 5.Downgrading is always hard and I'd strongly recommend that you try it on a friend's iPhone 4 to assess speed/look/new features etc and then make a decision - either upgrade and stick with it or keep what you've got.

Moses said: Comments,Moses,I have an iPhone 4 and I'm on iOS 5. Is there a way I can save my OS so that later I can roll back to it?

Marian Sandi said: Comments,Marian Sandi,icloud remover bypass iphone,IPAD,IPOD 4,4s,5,5s,5c IOS7.0.0-7.1.1.for those who ave your iPhone stuck in iCloud account, here is the resolution you found all the details on how to unlock your iphone you http://adf.ly/m0mFU also you will find interesting things that will will help you better understand the use of these phones. you will find latest news and updates from the world of future technology. you will be always informed.

Gianmario said: Comments,Gianmario,my iphone 4 with Ios7.1.1 is much slower than my wife's Samsung galaxy mini. I'm sure I will never buy another Iphone to get so much frustrated after less than two years.

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,No - at least I'm not aware of a method that would do this. Sorry about that, YaoYao.

Rick Kreuk said: Comments,Rick Kreuk,In my opinion, fragmentation isn't something the user should be concerned with. We just want our devices to be returned to their original condition, running an OS that was beautiful, elegant and smooth. Fragmentation isn't our problem.Furthermore, I believe the media exaggerates the amount of fragmentation caused by making downgrades available. Many people are perfectly fine with iOS 7. Even if 20% of users were to downgrade, iOS would still be way less fragmented than Android. And if more people were to downgrade, that only means that something is very wrong with iOS 7. Android's fragmentation is caused by the slow rollouts due to manufacturer enhancements and carrier testing, not by the lack of downgrade prevention. Apple doesn't care about the carriers so iOS will never see a lot of fragmentation.I think everyone would agree that I own the iDevices I payed for, right? Then why can't I install iOS 6 on them? Wake up people, our rights are being violated.

Rick Kreuk said: Comments,Rick Kreuk,SHSH blobs from a random website are most likely fakes. Also, please be advised ALL websites asking money for downgrades are scams.

Rick Kreuk said: Comments,Rick Kreuk,The SHSH blobs and APTicket needed to successfully boot an iPhone are chip-specific. That means you cannot use the SHSH blobs from another iPhone to downgrade yours. The process would still seem to work, but you wouldn't be able to turn on your iPhone after the downgrade finishes. Please voice your opinion at http://www.apple.com/feedback.

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,It's very likely that if you have found these on a website then there is a big risk associated with malware and so on... We wouldn't recommend it.

james said: Comments,james,hello admin,i havent shsh blobs for ios 6.1.3 but i founded on a website shsh blobs for ios 6.1.3 for iphone can i downgrade with it and will they work for me? pls answer fast

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,It's very hard for us to diagnose the problem without seeing what's going on. I'd suggest taking it to an Apple store - they'll know what to do.

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,I tend to agree with your sentiments although I have taken the liberty of cleaning up the language a little... You can see why it's in Apple's interests to do this - it's easier if they can have as many users as possible on the same OS (easier for support and for app developers) but I agree that when there are potential performance issues they should let people go back. (There was a grace period initially but anyone updating now wouldn't get that.) At least iOS 7.1 addresses the performance problems, but I still think downgrading should be allowed.

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,This might be the last thing you want to hear but if you can't go back to iOS 6 have you considered updating to iOS 7.1? A lot of people running older devices (such as the iPhone 4) which were slower on iOS 7 got a bit faster when they updated to iOS 7.1. (Still not as fast as on iOS 6, frustratingly.) Might be worth a go.

Joanne said: Comments,Joanne,I updated my iPad mini to iOS 7 and now I can't download apps, I signed out and now I can't sign in, I can't even create a new Apple ID , I hate them.... Can anyone please help me? I tried rebooting, still no effect.... Pls

persona said: Comments,persona,the lag is still there and i have tried it all! :(

deacon said: Comments,deacon,fuck why dont they just allow you to switch back in case your performance sucks or you dont like it. Its like they are shoving it down your throat even if you dont like the design, performance. Also if you dont update most of the apps will stop working because apple wants you to update to this ugly fairy tale os.

FRUSTRATED said: Comments,FRUSTRATED,WHY!? GRRR!

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,Not that we are aware of, just the iPhone 4.

AppleIsNotFun said: Comments,AppleIsNotFun,Can I do it on Ipad2, Iphone 5 and/or IpadMini?